Consider the following statements: (1). Animal Welfare Board of India is established under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. (2). National Tiger Conservation Authority is a statutory body. (3). National Ganga River Basin Authority is chaired by the Prime Minister. Which of the statements given above is/ are correct?

The correct answer is B (2 and 3 only). Statement 2 and 3 are true, and statement 1 is false.

• Statement 1 is wrong. The Animal Welfare Board of India was set up under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 (Section 4), not the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Aspirants confuse it with the environment law because both deal with welfare of living beings.
• Statement 2 is right. The National Tiger Conservation Authority is a statutory body. It was given statutory backing through the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act, 2006, which inserted Chapter IVB.
• Statement 3 is right. The National Ganga River Basin Authority was constituted under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and was chaired by the Prime Minister. It has since been replaced by the National Ganga Council (2016), which is also chaired by the Prime Minister.

The core concept here is the statutory architecture of environmental and wildlife governance in India, which matters for Mains GS-III on conservation and institutional design. Knowing which Act created which body is a recurring Prelims pattern.

Trap: Assuming every animal- or environment-related body comes under the EP Act, 1986, which leads to wrongly accepting Statement 1.